Reengineering based inquiry into innovation in the front end of new product and service development processes

The new product/service development (NPSD) business processes in organisations are often considered to be exemplars of innovation in those organisations. However, NPSD processes are not synonymous with innovation. In some cases the NPSD process can even supplant the process of innovation, leading to confusion and ineffectiveness of innovation in other business processes. Furthermore, the need to develop and sustain innovation within the NPSD can be obscured by an operational focus leading to incremental orthodoxy rather than radical innovative change. Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of innovation within the NPSD processes in organisations by examining how organisations have reengineered these processes to achieve more radical innovation within such processes. The implicit hypothesis is that reengineering enables the role of innovation in such processes to be more fully exposed and probed. A multiple case methodology is used to probe organisations in high growth markets where innovative NPSD processes are essential for business success. The results indicate that understanding and careful planning is necessary to incorporate essential knowledge, creativity and innovation constructs within the NPSD process.